Water leaks and subsequent mold contamination have cost the owners of Berkeley’s controversial Gaia building more than $10 million to repair, according to lawsuits filed in Alameda County Superior Court. -more-
A 25-year-old father of three became Berkeley’s first homicide victim of the year Sunday afternoon when he was felled by a hail of gunfire on the street outside his grandmother’s South Berkeley apartment, police report. Meanwhile, a Wednesday night shooting death is being attributed to the City of Albany. -more-
Relaxation isn’t just for the rich. That was the call from boycott-supporting protestors outside the Claremont Hotel Friday as the well-known health guru Deepak Chopra held a weekend seminar at the luxury resort and hotel. -more-
As Berkeley charts a course to meet its goal of recycling 75 percent of its waste by 2010, it is doubtful the 32-year-old recycling drop-off center at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Dwight Avenue will be part of the plan. -more-
The hunt for a replacement for Berkeley Fire Chief Reginald Garcia—who leaves Sept. 17—begins in earnest early next month, said City Manager Phil Kamlarz last week. -more-
For more than three decades, Charlie Frizzell was a cherished Homo sapiens Berkeley landmark. Whether it was shmoozing with Charlie at a party, joining him on an anti-war march, chatting with him at the Cheese Board, or just bumping into him around town, it was always a treat. His calm and gentle demeanor was contagious and even a brief encounter with Charlie would lower your blood pressure and brighten your mood. -more-
High up in the North Berkeley Hills where crime is low, university encroachment distant, and a new out-of-scale high-rise apartment building inconceivable, one neighborhood is tackling a concern most Berkeley residents take for granted—power poles and their adjoining wires. -more-
UC Berkeley announced Monday the start of a new transit pass program designed to lure its 8,000 employees out of their cars and on to AC Transit buses. -more-
Stucco construction lawsuits have become a major growth industry in recent years, with water damage and mold being the two chief complaints. -more-
Firefighters were summoned to 1195 Grizzly Peak Road 17 minutes after midnight Monday, arriving four minutes later to find a neighbor with a hose battling the flames that had swept up the wall of wood-shingled garage. -more-
Rose held her iridescent purple knitting needles close to her eyes and peered between knit/purls at the Scrabble board. Something long, multi-colored, weird, and seemingly out-of-control hung from the needles and mysteriously disappeared underneath the table. -more-
To the Berkeley City Counci, the Planning Commission and the Zoning Adjustments Board: -more-
Medical cannabis patients like myself are simply not feeling too secure these days. The medical cannabis voter initiative—the Patients’ Access to Medical Cannabis Act (PAMCA)—seems to have provoked a great deal of critical response judging from articles in the last two issues of the Daily Planet. I’d like to remind the city manager, the BCC, and citizens of Berkeley that PAMCA is what I consider a responsible attempt by informed medical cannabis advocates to ensure legal, sanctioned, and efficient access for patients to their medicine. -more-
Roll out the sofas and living room rugs, but leave the red carpet behind. That was the theme at Bay Area houses as neighbors packed into living rooms to watch the nation-wide premier of Outfoxed—Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism, the newest in the deluge of groundbreaking and hard-hitting left wing political documentaries hitting the American scene this year. -more-
Of the many things you can do with (and to) opera, there is “updating,” spoofing, and producing a work really well. Then, there is David Scott Marley. -more-
Tuliptrees, or tulip poplars, line the western half of University Avenue in Berkeley. They’re not universally popular poplars, mostly because they’re prone to aphid infestations and the aphids’ sticky excretions drip onto everything below, attract soot, and nourish sooty black molds. Too bad, because it’s a noble tree with roots in American history. -more-
As Berkeley officials ponder revisions to the city’s ground-breaking 1989 creeks ordinance, city engineers have presented them with sobering news on the state of the underground concrete structures that enclose nearly half of Berkeley’s creek channels. -more-
As Alameda county races to meet new re-certification standards for its touchscreen voting machines, critics say they are still not satisfied with the machines’ security and are trying to give the county one last opt-out option before the November election. -more-
With the deadline for submitting ballot initiatives to the county fast approaching, the City Council Tuesday chose to take one last look at the wording of three controversial measures. -more-
In the lush South Berkeley Community Garden, beside the stumpy, green lemons hovering over raspberry brambles and below the dangling figs, a butterfly circles around the “for sale” sign announcing that the 17-year-old swath of vegetation at Martin Luther King Jr. Way between Russell and Oregon streets is on the market. -more-
With a long-range solution to the Gilman Street/Interstate 80 interchange stalled by the Bush administration’s refusal to approve the federal transportation bill, a Berkeley traffic engineer and CalTrans have come up with an interim solution. -more-
With a long-range solution to the Gilman Street/Interstate 80 interchange stalled by the Bush administration’s refusal to approve the federal transportation bill, a Berkeley traffic engineer and CalTrans have come up with an interim solution. -more-
The six women behind Berkeley-based Project Billboard will get to take their anti-war message to the streets of New York after all. -more-
A divided City Council voted to adopt the Arts and Cultural Plan created by the Civic Arts Commission during three years of research and public hearings. -more-
After winning the right to be classified as employees rather than independent contractors, local cab drivers will soon vote whether or not to join the Teamsters Union Local 70. -more-
While a band of neighbors determined to reduce the size of new buildings isn’t claiming victory in the battle over University Avenue, one affordable housing developer is ceding defeat. -more-
Albany Shooting Ends in Berkeley Crash -more-
The systematic, targeted disenfranchisement of large numbers of African-American Florida voters by the administration of Gov. Jeb Bush in 2000 probably cost Al Gore the election, and cost both the nation and the world a great deal more. We learn, now, that Brother Bush appears to be up to it again in preparation for the 2004 presidential vote. -more-
I am writing to express my deep concern and distress over your decision to cover a protest organized by Berkeley City Councilmember Linda Maio, a close friend of the “nonprofit” developer Ali Kashani. While Affordable Housing Associates is the real party of interest being sued, the City of Berkeley is also a party in this litigation. Linda Maio was completely out of order to try to influence the outcome of the pending lawsuit for a property in District 3 since she is the elected representative for District 1, is on the staff of one of the litigating parties, and has a conflict of interest because of her close personal relationship with Kashani, former executive director of Affordable Housing Associates. -more-
The Israeli reaction to the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion regarding the legality of the Wall (or “Separation Barrier”) was as predictable as the verdict: absolute denial of both the saliency of the judgment itself and of the ICJ’s fundamental authority to even pronounce an opinion at all. The verdict was so damaging to Israel not because it fears UN sanctions—the U.S., for one, would never permit that—but because it directly challenges Israel’s PR line: that the problem is Palestinian terrorism and not its own increasingly brutal 37-year military occupation of Palestinian lands. For years Israel has presented itself as “the only democracy in the Middle East,” a small peaceful country fallen victim to an intractable Palestinian aggressor, a normal place, like Manhattan, smitten for no fathomable reason by terrorism. -more-
A flea market by any other name—bazaar, swap meet, or yard sale—will always be the ultimate example of free, or free-wheeling, enterprise. Any and all can wander along the stalls and socialize, fondle the merchandise, eat and drink, listen to music, and even shop. -more-
The Berkeley Opera’s production of Bat Out of Hell, David Scott Marley’s witty English adaptation of Johann Strauss, Jr.’s Die Fledermaus, opens today (Friday) at the Julia Morgan Theater. -more-
Sometimes, one picture is worth a thousand words. But pictures are subject to multiple interpretations, and so it seems that on certain topics when we run a picture we need to add explanatory words as well. Last week we ran a cartoon by our editorial car toonist which depicted the wall which Israel is currently erecting in Palestinian territory. It was identified as such by having the flag of Israel superimposed on it: a six-pointed star with bars above and below. A sign was tacked to the wall: “Condemned by the International Court of Justice.” It was a simple graphic representation of an actual current event which has been reported in many papers. But for a few readers (not many, thank goodness) there was something about the cartoon which seemed to imply hostility to Jewish people in general (what is commonly called anti-Semitism) rather than criticism of the policies of the current government of Israel. One caller left a message identifying himself as a Marin County lawyer, and said that he had been planning to run a weekly ad in the Daily Planet, but that he had decided not to because of the paper’s “anti-Semitism.” (Excuse me, but I don’t really believe he’d planned the ad, sorry.) A woman called after hours, hoping to leave a voice mail message, but I picked up the phone. She said that she thought the use of a religious symbol like the star was anti-Semitism, and later called again to say that she was reporting the paper to the Anti-Defamation League. The problem, which we’ve explained in this paper before, is that Israel chose to use a religious symbol on its national flag, but that doesn’t make the flag off-limits as a political symbol. The Union Jack, the British flag, incorporates a cross, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be used in political cartoons. -more-
We must be doing something right, since we’ve gotten a bunch of letters and phone calls complaining about our profile of Livable Berkeley. The majority of them, some of which we printed, complained that the piece was too soft on the organization, which seems to be a real thorn in the side of Berkeley residents who feel that they’re living in the target zone for Smart Growth zealots. We also got a couple of complaints on the other side, from Livable Berkeley members, both of whom live in Berkeley and are employed in offshoots of the development industry. -more-
